The invention of the tea bag
The invention of the tea bag is said to have resulted from the small silk sample bags used by Thomas Sullivan, a New York City tea merchant, in 1908 to send out to potential customers. However the 1920's is said to have been the 'decade of the teabag,' and its commercial use developed from the tea egg or tea ball (a perforated metal container on a chain) into a tea bag.
The first bags were made from cloth or gauze and were so described and illustrated Ukers in 1935, around 1935 Messrs Joseph Tetley who had a powerful associate company in the States made a tentative approach to market teabags in the UK. Initial acceptance was slow but Tetley never gave up. The teabag market eventually began to grow in the UK in the 1960's when approx 5% of tea was consumed in bags. By 1965 it had risen to 7% and now, 96% of tea consumed in the UK is done so with teabags.